Pandemonium
by FANG ee
Summary: [On a temporary hiatus while I try to be bothered to rewrite the first few chapters. It's horrible. Trash.]
1. Prologue

Hello everyone! Welcome to the prologue of Pandemonium. For people who have read this before, I did promise the next chapter a week after. That week turned into two months. Eek.

Now that I'm out of my semi-hiatus, I'm looking forward to writing and posting more. And yes, I have made some edits to this chapter. It was very...rough before, and merely in its rudimentary stages. I hope it's better now!

And please, please notify me of any mistakes.

And...I nearly forgot the disclaimer.

Elsword belongs to Kill3r Combo and KOG Studios. If it belonged to me, there would be an otome version of it out right now.

* * *

It was a quiet and sunny day in the peaceful traveler's village of Ruben, and six explorers, well-rested and at last free after several months of endless fighting and constant pressure, were finally able to relax and enjoy some free time for once. It was today that they decided to take a small trip through the forest surrounding Ruben, and the group could not help but admire the lush, green vegetation, gurgling streams and towering, ancient trees that they had failed to notice in their previous adventures.

Rena gracefully leapt onto a low tree branch and sighed happily."Ahhhh, been a while since we could fully appreciate the beauty of nature~"

"I don't get it. It's just trees and grass," Elsword pointed out bluntly. He bent down, picked up a fallen leaf from the forest floor and waved it around before dropping it back onto the ground.

Aisha pinched the red-haired knight and earned a glare from him. "Idiot! You're so dumb you don't even get it!"

"Who are you calling an idiot, you…idiot!" yelled Elsword.

The purple-haired mage stomped her foot on the ground. "I just called YOU an idiot! Who else?"

"Yeah? Yeah? I dare you to say that again!" Elsword held up a fist and shook it in her face.

Raven, Eve and Chung knew that they were about to view an awfully familiar scene, and they had no choice but to back away. Shivers ran down their spines and Chung covered his eyes with his hands, peeking between a gap in his fingers every so often. The quarrelling duo was completely oblivious to the sound of a fairly large tree branch being snapped. The atmosphere suddenly turned oppressive, and a dark shadow loomed over the two.

"Ur...Ah...Elsword, Aisha, I think you should-" The blonde cannon wielder's warning was cut off by the sound of maniacal laughter, and he watched in horror as the terrifying face of the green-haired elf loomed above the unsuspecting, and still arguing, pair.

"In this hazardous situation, it is highly advisable that extreme caution must be taken," Eve pointed out, the two, small Nasods at her fingertips whirring in agreement. Raven and Chung seemed to agree too.

It took several more seconds for Elsword and Aisha to notice their surroundings.

"UWAAAAAH?!"

"Little knight, little mage, were you fighting?"

Aisha shook her head furiously and elbowed the younger boy brutally in the ribs.

"N-n-no! Of course not! Just some friendly banter! Right, Elsword?"

"Y-yeah!"

Rena raised an eyebrow, leaning forward and placing her hands on her hips. Unfortunately, the terrifying grin hadn't left her face yet."Are you suuuuure?"

"Rena. We came here to enjoy our day. This is a rare opportunity that we should be grateful for," Raven demanded pointedly and placed a hand on the elf's shoulder.

Chung nodded, his teeth still rattling with fear.

The dark aura disappeared and the atmosphere suddenly lightened.

"Nyaw, sorry emo," the elf pouted, poking Raven lightly.

"Hn." Raven turned away.

The elf, battle-scarred man, Nasod and prince continued down the path to a nearby clearing, and Aisha quickly teleported to join them.

"What?! W-wait for me!"

Elsword ran after the gang, and just as he caught up, he tripped over something in the grass and fell flat on his face."Ow...man, that hurt."

Aisha pointed at him and laughed hysterically. "Ahahahaha you clumsy idiot!"

"Hey, I'm no-"

All of a sudden, a blinding flash of light surrounded the Elgang and the world spun around them for several seconds, before it came to a stop.

And then all hell let loose.

* * *

Thank you for reading the prologue! I hope you enjoyed it!

Please review if you can~! It would make me very, very happy. Very happy. XD


	2. Chapter 1: Swapped

Hi readers! Here's the first real chapter of Pandemonium! I'm so sorry, I haven't updated in so long. That one week I promised...turned into two months. I'm such a lousy author. Humph. I was bombarded with tests and assignments from school, and had so many musical commitments. Sorry sorry.

Just to let you know, I...forgot what I was going to say. Oh wait, it came back to me. You see, the title "Pandemonium" has absolutely nothing to do with Chung's Fury Guardian active skill, "Pandemonium."

Also, all the characters are in their base forms, but they have already gone on their journey, you know, traveled from Ruben to Hamel and defeated every cursed fiend. Yeah, something like that. However, they're still in their base forms because I think it eliminates extra, unnecessary confusion when the characters and minds get swapped around.

One last thing before I leave you to your lovely reading. I'm not sure how often I'm going to update, but definitely more regularly than before. I still feel really bad about that. I'm now also working on a couple of new fics, so be sure to check them out when I post them!

And following a suggestion made in one of the reviews, here is a list of who swapped with who.

Elsword and Eve

Raven and Aisha

Chung and Rena

And no, they're not pairings. I just thought that their personalities would be the best to swap.

Happy reading, and don't forget to point out any mistakes!

* * *

"What the El was that?" Eve muttered, frowning.

Everyone gazed around uncertainly, and reality struck them. A loud squeal was heard from Raven.

"N-n-no way!" suddenly self-conscious, he attempted to cover his exposed chest with his arms.

Elsword sighed unhappily, "What an unfortunate turn of events."

"Unfortunate indeed," agreed Chung.

The rest of the Elgang were too busy to reply as their attention was directed at something else. Rena gazed down with wonder at her newly acquired assets and Aisha was too busy prancing while waving her left arm around madly.

The green-haired elf awakened from her trance. "U-um, so, um, what do we do?"

"Surprisingly, I was thinking the same thing," Chung chuckled.

Rena stared at him with a bewildered expression on her face. "I'm seeing myself."

Meanwhile, Raven was giggling at Eve, who was attempting to glide but fell flat on her face every single time. The swearing that accompanied her failed attempts was just as pretty as her once porcelain, now dirt-smeared face.

Elsword turned his head away. "I am most unimpressed. It is somewhat difficult to watch the Queen of Nasods humiliated in such a way."

"You'll have to get used to it," Aisha remarked in her deep voice, causing everyone to turn to her. "You'll have to get used to that too."

Raven's giggling fit ceased and he held up his left arm. "And…I'm guessing we have to get used to our new bodies as well."

Rena glanced at Raven wistfully.

"What?" he asked in his high-pitched voice.

The elf facepalmed. "Nevermind."

A few seconds of blissful silence fell upon the Elgang as they all took in their new situations.

"Wait, what?!" Eve shouted, "What new bodies? Aren't the-"

She grabbed at the air desperately and fell on her behind. Elsword cringed.

"Oh, I see now. That means…oh my Solace you have got to be kidding!" she patted herself down, "I'm Eve! Holy crap!"

The rest of her companions mentally shed a tear at her stupidity.

Eve's panicking began to affect Raven.

"S-stop it, Eve! I mean, Elsword. You're just making it worse!"

"I'm not me! I'll have to stay like this forever!" Eve yelled, flailing her arms around wildly to emphasise her point. She ended up landing on her sorry little butt again.

Raven held back his laughter. "I know, I know. But we have to calm down and think rationally. There's definitely a way to reverse this."

"No there isn't! We're gonna stay like this forever! My life is over!"

"Shut up, Eljerk! It's your own fault for tripping over that thing!" Raven snapped.

Chung's bright blue eyes sparkled. "Ah! So that's what we nee- ,"

Eve and Raven continued arguing.

"Yeah, just blame it on me, why don't you?" Eve growled.

"It is your fault, you clumsy idiot!"

Aisha shook her head sadly. "So much for keeping calm." Rena and Elsword nodded sullenly in agreement.

Chung attempted to interject. "Um...hello? I got something to say…" He failed miserably.

"You're the one that ran ahead!"

"How does that prove anything?" Raven stomped his foot angrily.

"Yoohoo! Excuse me!" hollered Chung. He waved his hands in front of their faces in desperation.

Eve glared at Raven. "It proves that you're annoying!"

"At least I'm not a stupid dimwit!" Raven snapped.

For the second time that day, everyone froze and shivered in fear as a wave of darkness pressed over them and revealed Chung enveloped in a blanket of black steam. Birds fled from the trees, the sun hid behind a cloud and all life seemed to momentarily freeze, paralysed in fear. Rena felt her knees knock together in an uncontrollable fit and Aisha hugged her precious left arm to her chest. Elsword remained motionless, a blank and almost robot-like expression on his face.

"Ohohohohoho," came a bone-chilling voice, "Are we fighting again, dear children?"

Chung's usual innocent and sweet face had distorted into some sort of monstrous formation with a blond bob.

Rena hugged the nearest tree. "I'm so scary," she whimpered.

Raven stared at Chung in confusion. Eve tilted her head to one side, "But you're younger than us, Chung."

The dark atmosphere immediately disappeared. "I'm Rena, not Chung! Gah, this is so confusing!"

Aisha cleared her throat. "As Rena was saying…"

"Right! Thank you Aisha. Raven. Eve said that she tripped over something. Whoops, Elsword, not Eve. Sorry," Chung winked at the expressionless Elsword.

"So that means that whatever Elsword tripped over…"

"Was most likely what changed everything," Aisha finished.

Elsword swiped his finger in a horizontal motion through the air and his forehead creased into a slight frown. "Most regrettably, I am unable to recall any power or data stored in my original form. As a result, we have no other alternative but to search for it by physical means."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure I can get that pop-up blue thingy," Eve informed as she waved her arms around like a drunken octopus.

Elsword's eyes widened.

Surely enough, a blue panel appeared. But it turned red. And began blinking. An electronic voice accompanied it.

"Input recognised. Emergency shut-down procedure activated. System will self-destruct in for minutes, fifty nine seconds. Blast radius unknown."

Eve yelled, "Awesome! I never knew I could use bombs and explosives!"

"No, that means you're going to blow up in like, five minutes," Raven pointed out.

Eve blinked. "That's not healthy."

Elsword scrambled over to Eve. "In order to deactivate the self-destruction process," Elsword pointed at the hovering console with his gloved finger, "You must have data recognition, utilisation and integration skills equivalent to that of a Nasod's."

Eve raised an eyebrow. "Um what? English please."

"Basically, she's saying that you're dumber than her." Raven rolled his eyes.

"Well that's true," Eve admitted.

Elsword directed his gaze at the two floating forms circling Eve. An unseen message seemed to pass through the red-haired knight and the two Nasod drones.

"I suggest that Eve, formerly Elsword, control his flurried movements, and allow me to terminate the unwanted risk," said the knight.

Moby and Remy bobbed up and down almost excitedly, and much to everyone's surprise, leapt onto the holographic console and performed a ridiculously high-speed tap dance across the pulsing keys.

"Wha…?" Eve leaned back slightly.

"Emergency code deactivated," the abhorrent electronic voice returned.

Rena sighed in relief, wiping a bead of sweat that had formed on her brow. "Whew. That was close, Miss Eve."

"I'm Elsword."

"Ah, my sincere apologies, Elsword."

Chung pounced onto Eve and latched his arms around her.

"Um, sorry, but I don't really swing that way", Eve muttered politely.

Chung took a step back and frowned in an oddly girlish and cute way. "But you always let me hug you!"

"What? You've never hugged me before!" Eve wailed, backing away slowly.

"Oh my, how can you be so dumb?" Raven screeched in annoyance, "Two tiny animal robot-things prove that they're smarter than you, and now you mistake Rena for Chung and think that he's ga-," he broke off, blushing. Rena blushed too, embarrassed at what she had been wrongly accused of.

"You know what?" Nevermind." Raven lowered his entirely red face.

Elsword cleared his throat. "These supposedly "tiny animal robot things" actually belong to the prestigious Nasod race. Perhaps you should refrain from referring to us as a lesser species."

Moby and Remy clanked and whirred, which, in Nasod drone language, possibly meant something like, "That's right, dumbass."

Raven stared at Elsword strangely for a second and then lowered his head. "Yeah, okay. Um…sorry. Eve." She shot a death stare at Eve.

"Hey! Why dya glare at m-mm?!"

Aisha clamped a hand over Eve's mouth and placed her finger on her lips, motioning for her to be quiet. Chung did likewise to Raven. As soon as there was silence, the rustling of leaves could be heard. It seemed to be coming from some of the bushes surrounding them, and the sound gradually grew louder and louder, until the group could even hear the crunching of twigs and leaves, followed by a chorus of soft grumbling.

"I think they're mmph! Mmph!" Eve's voice was smothered by the hand around her mouth tightening. Aisha had an intense look of concentration on her face.

Small, tentative noses emerged from the leafy shrubbery and twitched, sniffing and snorting, trying to track or identify some sort of scent. A surprised grunt was heard, and there was more shaking and grunting. All of the creatures took a hesitant step out of the bushes, some wielding tree branches and others holding a pile of stones in their chubby arms. They were short, white, rodent-like creatures that did not seem to be particularly intelligent. Poor Rena was very confused.

"They're so cute!" she yelped, a dreamy look in her large, emerald eyes.

Chung nudged her gently. "They don't look so cute with those big sticks and stones. I know we fought nasty demons in your beloved Hamel, but these oversized bunnies, believe it or not, are the monsters of Ruben. They're called- ,"

"Phoru!" Elsword yelled, "We can beat them easily!"

There were about twenty phoru, all forming a rough semi-circle around the Elgang. The Nasod queen reached for the non-existent sword on her back.

"Oh crap…"

The phorus charged.

* * *

And there we go. The very first chapter of Pandemonium! Thank you readers, and don't feel afraid to tell me if there are any errors or inaccuracies. Reviews would be appreciated too. ^^

Baibai~


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